The Cause of Hyperemesis Gravidarum (Extreme Morning Sickness) in Pregnancy with Marlena Fejzo, PhD

Marlena Schoenberg Fejzo, PhD is a medical scientist whose research focuses on conditions and diseases that primarily affect women. As part of a team of researchers from the United States, United Kingdom and Sri Lanka, she has collected extensive evidence showing the cause of pregnancy sickness: a hormone known as GDF15.

Fejzo received a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University in 1995. Currently she works in the Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Southern California and Materna Biosciences, Inc. She has published peer-reviewed scientific articles on ovarian cancer, breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, and discovered the first genes associated with uterine fibroids, nausea and vomiting of pregnancy, and hyperemesis gravidarum.

Fejzo is a science advisor and board member for the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation, an extensive resource for patients and providers.

Read the press release

Fejzo has been named one of Time magazine's 2024 'Women of the Year'

Support Dr. Fejzo's research

Learn more about this episode and others at keck.usc.edu/pphs/podcast

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